June 30, 2014 1:57 am

He’s a large man — 6-foot-3 and about 312 pounds after losing about 20 — largely covered by tattoos.

This six-week-old tattoo is of a letter his grandmother sent him, saying how proud she was of her Australian-born grandson.

The defensive tackle had his own point of pride this summer after going through rookie minicamp, OTAs and minicamp without pain in his knees. He tried to tough it out last year after being drafted in the fifth round out of Alabama, but his knees wouldn’t hold up. He was shut down, placed on injured reserve and went back to Australia to rehabilitate.

“Feeling really good to get back out there,” Williams said at the end of minicamp.

He came back in Week 16 of last year to continue his rehab in Seattle. He went to meetings and easily learned the playbook.

“It’s a lot simpler than playing at Alabama was,” Williams said.

Williams had arthroscopic knee surgery right after the 2012 national title game. He went to the combine shortly after, then into camp with the other Seahawks rookies. His knee didn’t get much of a break.

To fix it, Williams received Orthokine injections, which help with joint pain, lost some weight and took time to rest. His knees were in such bad shape before, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll wondered what Williams’ future was.

“I thought that maybe Jesse was done,” Carroll said. “We didn’t know coming out of the last season. He had a tremendous offseason. His rehab work was great. He worked every day. He’s ready to get in the middle of it. To bring that guy back to us at full speed could be really a great addition. He’s one of those guys that comes to us – and Jordan Hill too – that didn’t play for us last year, and Benson Mayowa who didn’t play at all to speak of – those guys come back and with their red shirt year behind them, they really add to the roster and the competitiveness of the whole thing.”

Williams says this is the best he’s felt since before arriving at Alabama. He’ll be battling with Hill for backup snaps in the middle since the Seahawks acquired Kevin Williams and have mainstay Brandon Mebane at the tackle spots.

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Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

Orthokine is an experimental medical procedure in which a patient’s own blood is extracted, manipulated, and then reintroduced to the body as an anti-inflammatory drug to reduce chronic pain and osteoarthritis. Known in the United States as Regenokine,the process removes about 2 US fluid ounces (59 ml) of blood from a patient’s arm, which is then incubated at a slightly raised temperature. The liquid is then placed in a centrifuge until its constituent parts are separated. The middle yellowish layer is dense with agents that are believed to stop an arthritic agent known as interleukin-1, which causes degeneration of the joints and the breakdown of cartilage. That serum is injected into the patient’s affected area. The procedure reduces pain and discomfort in the joint. The treatment generally lasts five days, with six shots of the serum into the affected area. It is normal for a patient to receive annual injections to ease the joint discomfort. From Wikipedia.

I didn’t know it was sore knees. At his age and weight and occupation, I’m not going to hold my breath on him developing into what I was hoping for (based mind you solely on staggering bench press numbers.)

Jordan Hill looks the part though, as does Scruggsy. I’m feeling pretty good about our D-line, and we look stacked at potential future Leo, with Jeffcoat, Mayowa, etc. waiting to prove themselves.

GeorgiaHawk,, It’d be 5 Seahawks in the top 20 next year, if Percy Harvin could have stayed healthy. I believe that he will this year and make a huge impact. Next year, Bobby Wagner will be in the top 50 as well.

“… He’ll be battling with Hill for backup snaps in the middle since the Seahawks acquired Kevin Williams and have mainstay Brandon Mebane at the tackle spots.”

I presume this means J. Williams will be “battling” for snaps with K. Williams at 3-tech and Hill with ‘Bane at the nose. I don’t think you meant to imply that they’ll be necessarily fighting with each other.

I’m confused, I thought Pete questioned Williams health (knee) about a month ago saying he wasn’t sure he would be able to play football again. Since then I have seen 2 articles saying how good his knee is.

Are the reporters not in touch and Jessie will be cut after a few weeks of camp, or should Pete have been quoted in the past tense, that he ‘thought Jessie wouldn’t come back, BUT’.

I have no trust in Hill, Williams or Mayowa and very little in Scruggs.

Thats not too say I don’t like them and want them to do well, but I am uncomfortable trusting our defensive future to such unproven players. Thats why the Kevin Williams signing is so important – a proven guy we can count on to produce.

In this salary cap era you have to trust in – or at least hope for – guys like YOLO and Scruggs. If the cheap rookies work out you can win superbowls, otherwise you go 8-8 for years on end and die a slow painful death. See: Cowboys, NFL

wazzulander, I did get banned for that nonsense on the M’s blog. I have used a couple of new handles since then, but they stop working after awhile. Not sure why? Maybe someone keeps flagging me when I come back? I haven’t said anything on the M’s blog or here since getting banned that warranted being banned again. I haven’t said anything like that here in a long time. Anyways, this will be me if it continues to work.

Too bad about the banning BBBeastmode, hopefully this handle will last for you. It definitely looked like that guy in the M’s forum was more concerned with getting under your skin than making a baseball point.

As far as Jesse Williams at 5 tech, I presume that based on his description of being a sturdy run-stuffer and strong anchor who isn’t a disruptive, penetrating presence as a inside pass rush.

In conventional terms, a 3-tech has more of those characteristics (quick, explosive, active inside pass rusher) vs. sturdy anchor against the run (which is typically what 5-techs are characterized as.)

Of course, the Seattle system is not necessarily conventional and doesn’t do things the same way as “conventional” defenses. But Jesse Williams’ playing characteristics seem to match Red Bryant’s role fairly well.

Of course, I always thought it a bit strange when they had Alan Branch playing 3-tech instead of Mebane. So that is a example of where Seattle is not traditional. When Branch signed with the Bills, they plugged him in at 5-tech.

A small reminder, high quality experienced players come at a high price. Not only that, typically most players are not Grade AAA first rounders. Coach has a history of putting young guys in a position to learn by playing, note Bowie and Bailey last season. No need to put players down when they haven’t even seen the field yet.
Relax and enjoy the show.

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